In its recently-announced results for the fourth quarter of 2010, Gain Capital (Forex.com) announced a healthy 29% increase in average monthly trading volume, at $157 billion per month in Q4 versus $122 billion in the first three quarters of the year.

With the recent issuing of its 2010 Annual Report, Saxo Bank has, for the first time, given us a glimpse at its monthly trading volume figures. Saxo reported that its average monthly trading volume in the second half of 2010 was $232 billion (DKK 1.3 trillion), down about 17% from $278 billion (DKK 1.7 trillion) in the first half of the year.

Recent news that LMAX CEO Robin Osmond is leaving the company, less than half a year after LMAX launched service, is further indication that it is not easy to break into the online retail Forex industry. Despite being backed by the money and web-centric knowledge of online gaming leader Betfair (as well as investor Goldman Sachs), LMAX took a lot more time and more money – an estimated £25 million – to get to market than expected, and apparently the results in terms of volume buildup have not been stellar. Interestingly, its CEO leaving did not make LMAX’s own Press Centre page. (Apparently other news about LMAX winning some award for its trading platform, launching a smartphone trading app, and appointing a new legal and compliance officer were more newsworthy! So much for transparency.)

Saxo Bank released its full-year 2010 results at the end of last week, reporting that its profits tripled from 2009 to a record DKK 644 million (approximately $108 million) in its best-ever year. Behind the total-year numbers, however, was the fact that the vast majority of Saxo’s profits were earned in the first half of the year.

LeapRate is pleased to announce the first major update to our Online Forex Industry Report, which we originally published in December 2010. For those of our clients who purchased the original report, you should have already received the update.

Now that both Gain Capital and FXCM have announced their final results for 2010 (as well as recent results releases and announcements by others such as IG Group, London Capital Group, and FxPro), what exactly have we learned about these firms, and the overall state of the global Forex market?

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